


Kinder

by v_i_o_l_e_t_s



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 05:04:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18067115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_i_o_l_e_t_s/pseuds/v_i_o_l_e_t_s
Summary: Choosing to save the bay results in a timeline where Nathan doesn't shoot Chloe. Instead, Nathan drops the gun, Chloe runs, and Max is left to figure out what the hell the past week had even been about.





	1. Nathan Presscott

Max chose to save Arcadia Bay. In the end, she knew that she couldn't sacrifice all those lives for Chloe, even if she did love her. Max smiled, eyes turned down to the tile floor of the bathroom. She loved Chloe Price. Maybe she always had. It felt right, them together. Partners in crime. But Max was about to lose her. She waited with bated breath for the shot that would end it all, would end all the madness. It didn't come. Instead, she heard metal clatter against the floor. 

"I can't--" Nathan cried. She heard him sit down. 

She also heard the bathroom door swing open and closed. She inched forward and peeked around the corner. No sign of Chloe. Nathan sobbing on the floor. Max was cautiously optimistic but didn't want to get her hopes up yet. She stepped out from behind the cover of the stalls. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked, taking a step toward Nathan. 

He picked the gun up in a flash, pointing it straight at Max's heart. 

Max smiled inwardly but kept her expression nuetral. If she were able to take Chloe's place, well, that'd suit her just as well. "Hey, you don't want to do that. Whatever is going on, let me help. All I want to do is help." 

Nathan's nostrils flared, the eddness of his eyes doing nothing to soften the intense look in his eyes. "You can't help me," he growled, standing up. 

Max didn't want to be, but she was scared. If her fate was to die here, she wanted to go assured that Chloe would be fine. "Whatever your business with Chloe, take it up with me, okay?"

Nathan titled his head. "How do you know Chloe?" 

"She was my best friend." 

"Was? And you're willing to do this for her?" 

"I'd do anything for her," Max replied. Almost anything. 

Nathan lowered the gun. "Then I guess you can clear her debt."

Max smiled. "What'd she owe you?" 

"Oh, that doesn't matter anymore. I'm taking you up on your offer." He tucked the gun into the waistband of his jeans and pulled his jacket down to disguise it. 

"What can I do to help you?" Max asked. 

Nathan smiled. "Help me save Rachel Amber." 

Max stared at Nathan. Save the dead girl? Was he out of his mind? Well, Max decided, he probably was. "Isn't she missing?" 

He nodded. "Yes, but I know where she's being kept. Meet me at the totem pole. Midnight." And with that, Nathan Prescott walked out of the bathroom, unaware of the disaster that could have taken place. 

Max sighed. Rachel Amber? Alive? She hoped, now more than ever, that Nathan was sane. She doubted it, but she hoped for it. She left the bathroom and returned to class, barely paying attention to the words of Mr. Jefferson. Partially because she despised him and partially because she had no fucking clue how she'd managed to save both Chloe and the town at the same time. 

\---

Max was tempted to go and find Chloe after her classes had let out, but she didn't. After all of this mess was over, she vowed to, but she didn't know if she had her powers in this timeline. She couldn't risk involving Chloe and having her die without being able to do anything about it. So she went back to her dorm and did her homework with an uncharacteristic focus. By the time it was a quarter to midnight, she'd been finished with her homework for hours and tinkering with her Polaroid, taking shots of Lisa, her computer, and really anything in her room that wasn't herself. It was, predictably, a study of self, but it was quite possibly the most abstract one she'd ever done. But she had places to be, so she packed her camera away and put on a dark beanie, one she vaguely recognized as Chloe's. But, then again, maybe it wasn't. It could have been, but Max wasn't sure how it could have possibly gotten into her room. Regardless, it made her feel safe as she snuck out of her dorm and out to the totem pole. 

Nathan was already there, leaning against the pole with a disaffected air. 

Max gave a small wave. 

Nathan smiled. 

Max was shocked but smiled back. Maybe working with him wouldn't be too terrible. 

Nathan pulled a key out of his pocket along with a flashlight, handing them to Max. "Let's go." 

Max trotted along behind him. "Where are we going?" she asked as they walked to the parking lot. 

Nathan got in the car.

Max got in on the passenger side. 

"To the old family barn. We'll say we met in the halls and really hit it off. I decided to take you to the barn because we wanted to be alone. I'll say that the key was given to me by dad to keep safe. I'll pretend like I don't know what it goes to, and you'll say you playfully took it from me and started looking around for locks. You find one in the floor. We open the hatch together. Inside, we find Rachel Amber, missing student." he starts the car and pulls out of the lot with his lights off, only turning them on when they reach the road. 

Rachel Amber? Still in the dark room? How did she manage not to get killed by Jefferson? Max sat in silence, processing this information as Nathan drove. Max wanted to believe this was the truth, wanted to believe that somehow, this time around, Nathan was a better person. She just didn't understand why. Then a thought struck Max. "Why do you need my help for this? I'm sure you could make up a lie about going out to the barn alone and trying the mysterious key your father gave you on the lock." 

Nathan shook his head. "That wouldn't be enough, not to protect me from what's coming when we find Rachel. Someone's going down for this, someone you'd never expect, and I need to have someone to testify that I did the right thing here." 

Max stared at him. "How long have you known that she's down there?" 

Nathan clenched his jaw. 

"How long?" Max demanded. 

Nathan let out a shaky laugh. "Long enough that I'm surprised I managed to convince her captor to keep her alive." 

"You left her down there to suffer and did nothing until you had someone to protect you?" Max asked. She struggled to keep the anger out of her voice. 

Nathan nodded, appearing quite sick. "I've had to. If I freed her without an alibi, they'd make up shit to drag me down with them. I can't let that happen." 

Max wanted to hate him for that, but she found herself grateful that he seemed to be stepping it up this time around. "Well, we better get her out fast then." 

Nathan nodded and stepped down harder on the gas. 

They arrived at the barn and parked. 

Nathan got out and opened Max's door for her. 

Max thanked him. The words felt strange on her lips. 

Nathan led the way into the barn. 

Max clutched the key in one hand and the flashlight in the other. 

"Over here," Nathan called. 

Max clicked the flashlight on and walked over to where Nathan knelt. She recognized the door in the ground and stuck the key into the lock without hesitation, throwing the door open so enthusiastically that Nathan had to catch it to keep it from banging against the ground. 

"Quiet," Nathan reprimanded. 

"Sorry," Max replied, rushing down into the Dark Room. She stumbled over her own feet as she reached the main room. Rachel Amber sat perfectly still on one of the couches, hands cuffed together in front of her. Max hastened to kneel before her. Max observed her breathing and took her pulse. She was okay. But something was off. She didn't seem to register that Max was even there. 

"Grab her; let's go," Nathan hissed. 

Max pulled Rachel up with her meager arm strength. Rachel walked okay, but Max had to hurry her along. Nathan had to help pull her out of the hole. 

Then, just as Nathan clicked the lock back into place and stood with a smile, it all went to hell. 

Max was the first to hear Jefferson's car, so she managed to pull Rachel down behind some farm equipment and hide her with a tarp. She stood back up and searched around for an area that looked comfortable. She couldn't find much of anything, so she leaned back against a tractor and pulled Nathan on top of her. 

Nathan kissed her, slipping his car keys into Max's pocket just as Jefferson threw the barn door open. 

"What the hell?" he demanded, pulling Nathan off of Max. 

Max went all wide eyed. "Mr. Jefferson? What are you doing here?" she asked in her best imitation of mortification. She was pretty embarrassed for having kissed Nathan, so she felt confident that Jefferson would buy it. 

He seemed to. He let Nathan, who he'd grabbed by the back of the jacket, go and took a step back. "I need to talk to Nathan." He stormed out of the barn. 

Nathan stepped close to Max, so, if Jefferson were to see, he'd think he were giving Max a long kiss on the cheek. "Get her out of here. Don't wait up." He stepped back and swaggered out, closing the barn door behind him. 

Max immediately scuttled over to where she'd left Rachel and uncovered her. She pulled her up and rushed then both to the side door, checking left and right before she walked Rachel out and closed the door quietly. She knew Jefferson would see her if she directly approached the car but also knew she could be in it and backing out before he knew what was going on if she ducked into the woods and approached the car from behind. 

So that's what she did. Or, she tried to. She got the both of them into the woods okay. It all went sideways as they were approaching the car from the back. Max actually saw the panic cross Nathan's face just before Jefferson turned around. Max knew Nathan had been trying to keep him focused forward. She knew he'd tried. But she also knew it hadn't been enough, especially as Jefferson reached back and pulled Nathan's gun from his waistband, clicked off the safety, and shot just as Max shoved Rachel into the back seat of the car. 

Max wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline or sheer willpower that kept her from feeling the bullet wound in her side until she'd meneuvered the car out of the road, somehow avoiding the shots Jefferson aimed at the tires. Regardless, she had one, huge problem: Max had no fucking clue how to get to the hospital from here. She did, however, know how to get somewhere else. She gripped the steering wheel and grit her teeth. She knew Jefferson would assume she'd go to the hospital first. He'd be searching those roads. Max had no guarantee that the way she was going didn't cross over them, and the thought sent shivers down her spine. But, at the same time, this was her only shot (pun intended) unless she wanted to bleed out in Nathan Prescott's car. She smiled. She'd be seeing Chloe sooner than she thought.


	2. Consequence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max is less useful than she was last chapter, and Chloe stumbles around in the dark. Rachel is there. So is Joyce. So are some cops. It's all good fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fell hard for a secret ending au where the player could make damn near everything at least okay, and well, here's the second chapter of that. It's gonna be hella rocky, but the violence will calm down from here. Feel free to voice your disappointment or approval in the comments.

Max pulled the car in behind Chloe's rusty truck and clicked the lights off. She'd taken her beanie, balled it up, and held it against her wound as soon as she'd had the idea, but she was still lightheaded as she tugged the blood-soaked beanie back on her head and stumbled out of the car. She pulled the back car door open and grabbed Rachel. Even though Max was kind of out of it, she managed to bring them both up to the front door. She jabbed the doorbell a few times, waited, and jabbed it a couple dozen more. 

She heard a thump and "shit, fuck, motherfucker" before a disheveled Chloe Price opened the door. 

Max didn't know what to say. Luckily, Chloe grabbed onto the both of them without question and pulled them inside without comment. Max was half convinced that Chloe didn't recognize her in the dark with a beanie, that Chloe just saw Rachel alive and trusted the random bleeding girl next to her. 

Chloe sat Rachel down in the arm chair and Max on the couch. She hiked Max's shirt to look at the wound. She pulled off her own t-shirt, revealing the tank top underneath, balled the t-shirt up, and pressed it against the wound. She pulled Max's hand down to hold the fabric there. "I'll be back," she whispered, rushing to her feet. She glanced at Rachel and sprinted back up the steps, yelling "Mom!" 

Max looked around in the seconds before Chloe's panicked shouting brought Joyce down the steps. Everything was just as she remembered it, so why had so much changed? 

Joyce gasped as she reached the bottom of the steps, rushing to Max. "Chloe, start the car." 

Chloe nodded and went to grab her mom's keys. 

Joyce eased Max up from the couch. "You're gonna be okay," she reassured her. 

Max knew she'd be fine even if she weren't. She'd saved Chloe and Rachel. She could have died happily. But she didn't because Joyce got her into her practical car and buckled her in the front seat. It was already running, Chloe having turned the key and pivoted back around to grab Rachel. Chloe returned with her seconds later, and Joyce's sensible sedan peeled out of the driveway. 

Max couldn't have turned to look back at Chloe, but having her here was enough. Max just hoped she hadn't put her or Joyce in the line of fire. Max must have spaced out because, before she could register what was going on, she was being pulled out of the car by Chloe and half carried, half led into the emergency room. Max could feel Chloe's arm muscles strain against her side and had to remind herself that this was a very serious situation. She had to warn someone about Jefferson. 

Nurses swarmed as soon as they saw Max and the state she was in. 

Chloe herself seemed quite panicked when she saw Max under the bright hospital lights. 

"Gurney!" a surgeon barked, and a nurse rushed over with one a second later. 

Just before they grabbed Max and put her on it, Max grasped Chloe's forearm, and, with all her remaining strength, said two words: Mark Jefferson. 

Chloe was forced to watch as she was taken away and stand there, in shock. Was she saying that Mr. Jefferson was responsible for the gunshot? 

Chloe's left hand was coated in blood, but she didn't notice. So, she ran her hand through her hair. She felt the blood wipe off in her hair. Whose blood, though? Chloe thought the girl looked like her ex best friend Max, but that just wasn't possible right? Max was in Seattle and definitely didn't go around catching bullets. Plus, there was something so haunted about the girl's eyes. Max wasn't haunted. 

A tall nurse tapped on Chloe's shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Chloe nodded, but she was (obviously) not okay. 

Joyce walked in just then with Rachel. She walked up to the nurse's station and said, "This is Rachel Amber." 

The nurse stared, confused for a moment, before she remembered the missing person posters she'd seen around. She nodded. "I'll get the police on the line, have them send a couple officers over. Do you know of any injuries?" 

Joyce shook her head. "No, she's out of it, though. She might be drugged." 

"Noted. Now, I understand if it's hard to discuss, but we need to know where she was found, so we can have an idea of internal injuries to look out for." 

Joyce shrugged. "The girl with the gunshot wound showed up at our door. She had a car and Miss Amber. She's the only one that'd know." 

The nurse glanced at Chloe, whom was still a little space-y even as she drifted to stand next to Rachel. 

The nurse nodded. "The police will ask a few questions when they get here. It'd probably be best if we could run a few tests on Miss Amber in the meantime. You can tag along while your daughter waits in the waiting room." 

Joyce nodded, but Chloe had a question. "Is the girl gonna be okay?" she asked. 

The nurse didn't feel comfortable answering that question, half because she didn't know and half because it'd looked like Jane Doe had lost a lot of blood. "I'll have the doctors update you." 

Chloe walked over to the waiting room. She reached into her pocket for her phone but came up with two, one smeared with blood. Well, one more smeared with blood. Some off it had rubbed off of the girl's and onto hers. Chloe reasoned that she must of found it somewhere along the way and stuffed it into her pocket without thinking. She didn't wipe any of the blood off just in case it was needed for evidence purposes or whatever but hit the power button. A picture of a Polaroid of a blue butterfly stared back at her. She swiped at the screen, and the phone unlocked. Well, that was careless of Jane. Chloe clicked on the messages in hopes of texting the girl's family. She opened the top conversation, the one that read "mom," without really looking at the contact photo, ignoring the past messages to type: ur daughter has been injured and is currently at the Arcadia Bay Hospital pls come quick. She sent the message without thought and tucked the phone back into her pocket. 

The phone buzzed. "We're getting in the car right now. How bad is it?" 

Chloe nearly chewed at the nails of her bloody hand and jerked it away from her face with a shudder. She typed: gunshot. no clue. just took her back. maybe surgery? police should be here soon. 

"How do you have her phone?" 

Chloe reclined as much as she could against the hospital chair and replied: she must have dropped it or something. it was in my pocket when i sat down. 

"Who are you?" 

Just as Chloe was going to reply, two police officers strode in. Chloe stood with the phone in her hand. 

They saw her standing and walked over. "Are you the girl who found her?" 

"Found? Not really. They kind of just showed up on my doorstep. Also, uh, here's the hurt one's phone. I texted her mom. She's on her way," Chloe responded, holding the phone out for the police officers. 

The taller one took it and tucked it into her pants pocket. "Why don't we move somewhere more quiet?" 

Chloe nodded and followed the officers to a vacant room. 

They left the blinds open. The taller one again took the lead, one dark eyebrow quirking as she asked, "So they just showed up on your doorstep, one with a gunshot and the other drugged?" 

Chloe nodded. 

The shorter one cleared his throat. 

The taller one glared but didn't comment any further.

"So why choose your house?" he asked. He seemed suspicious. 

Chloe shrugged. "Honestly don't know. All I know is the two of 'em we're at my house, and now they're here." 

The shorter one angled his chin up. He didn't seem convinced. 

The taller one ignored him. "So you don't have any idea who either of them is?" 

"Well, Rachel was my best friend before she went missing, but, like you said, she seemed drugged out of her mind. No way she could have been the one driving," Chloe answered. She wanted this to be over so she could curl up in one of those chairs and sleep until she had some good news. 

Now, the taller one was confused. "They drove there." 

Chloe nodded. "Keys are probably still in Jane Doe's pocket." 

The shorter one spoke up: "But not her phone?" 

Chloe was mentally exhausted. "Not her phone, but I'm just a fucking delinquent. Never know when I could be lying." 

The shorter one had the grace to appear embarrassed. 

The taller one sighed. "You're good to go for now. Unless she told you anything of note, that is." 

Chloe nearly left. "Oh, wait. She said a name before they took her away. Mark Jefferson. He's the photography teacher at Blackwell. Could be involved somehow. Rachel thought he was a little shady before she disappeared." 

The shorter one perked up. "Shady how?" 

"Just creepy, weirdly overinterested in one or two of his female students each semester. People said the female bit was just coincidence, and the creepy was actually just overenthusiastic but harmless support, but..." Chloe trailed off, clenching her jaw. She hoped that this wasn't the situation she thought it was. 

The taller one quirked her brow again. "But what?" 

Chloe shrugged. "He always gave me the heeby-jeebies, too. Wouldn't be surprised if you find something on him. Type of guy that seemed harmless on paper, hot enough to slip under a woman's creepiness radar just long enough to pounce." 

"Thank you. What's your name?" The taller one asked. 

"Chloe Price." 

"Well, Chloe, you're free to go." 

Chloe stuck her hands into the pockets of her flannel pajama pants. She nodded. "Between you and me, I hope he's worse off than she is." 

The taller cop laughed in agreement. 

The shorter one looked between the two women, vaguely disturbed. 

Chloe left the room and wandered back over to her seat. She sat down and leaned her head back against the wall. "Please, let it all be okay," she whispered. She stared up at the ceiling tiles. 

Then, two gurneys came in, one after the other. 

Nathan Presscott, torso littered with bullets. 

Mark Jefferson, a single key to the chest.


End file.
